Rio Tinto chiefs accused by SEC of hiding negative value of its Mozambique coal acquisition at the expense of investors over fear of damaging their own reputations after Alcan acquisition impairments. By MBM Correspondent

Global miner Rio Tinto says it will vigorously defend fraud charges filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its disastrous 2011 acquisition of Mozambique coal explorer Riversdale Mining.The SEC accuses Rio and then-executives Tom Albanese and Guy Elliott of failing to accurately value and record the Riversdale assets, which it bought for $US3.7B and sold on within a few years for $50M.Rio says it's confident the court will reject the SEC case.

While its Pilbara iron ore operations go from strength to strength, the delayed commissioning of a major extension project at the Escondida project in Chile due to industrial action early this year has forced an 8% cut in Rio Tinto's full year copper production forecast.

Improved rail capacity and performance in its Pilbara system has enabled Rio Tinto to lift Sept qtr (Q3) iron ore shipments to 85.8Mt, 11% higher than the previous qtr.YTD shipments are 240.2Mt, steady with YTD 2016, and Rio's full year forecast remains 330Mt.Forecast bauxite production has been raised to 50-51Mt, from 48-50Mt previously, after steady Q3 production of 12.9Mt.